Warcaster is in for some amazing new releases over the next year or so, with a flurry of release announcements. Below is a summary of what we know, as well as some wild speculation.
Lost Legion faction
The thing we have heard the most about is the “Lost Legion” faction due end 2023. This is a all robot army built by the Marcher Worlds, that were isolated from their masters and now returned. Their return will be marked by a big event.
Lost Legion were first ‘announced’ in Kickstarter 3, with a logo and name on Axel for Hire’s card. Since then we have seen concept art for 3 squads: riflemen, commandoes and flamethrowers. This fits closely with the original 4 faction’s squads: a ‘default’ ranged squad, melee specialists and heavy weapons. They will also have a twist on the concept of furies: likely not including dedicated weaver models.
The shapes of these models are pretty similar to Axel for Hire: with a chunky humanoid sort of shape. It is implied he may have fallen out with the Lost Legion, and they were powerful killers: for more analysis of Axel’s short story- read the “Signs and Portents” article below (note this was speculation on first official release, and since then we have learned that they are Marchers Robots).
Official announcements below
“Faction 6”
Privateer Press have announced they are working on another faction, although almost no details have been released. Speculation abounds on the various factions that have been mentioned in the Thousand Worlds book, and may still be active. Some possibilities are
- The lost Caspian fleet : disappeared through a void gate thousands of years ago and never seen again, likely becoming a ‘ghost ship’ of the void
- The Khazaraki horde: Nomads, later Space Pirates who were once chased away from the Marches by something unknown. The culture has existed for thousands of years, known to be warlike and savage, but tended to exist in small groups and only rarely threatened the main factions.
- The Mechanist Remnants: Used genocidal weapons, and allied with the Aeternus Continuum: with each blaming the other for the atrocities. Eventually the others destroyed the Mechanist homeworld, but a group of survivors fled through a void gate that they destroyed. Speculation they may have survived and rebuilt.
- The creatures of the Void: hard to know, but referenced in “Omens” picture, and may be the power that attacks the edges of the Marchers
Personally I would be curious to see the Omens picture referencing immortal hungerers from War Machine lore too: eg one of the dragons (who are noted to come from outside the world) or infernals (who also travel between worlds and galaxies seeking souls). Or a combination: for example Mechanists offered an infernal pact for more power.
It is also possible that the new faction is none of these, although I do hope it answers the teases of Omens below: and the faceless entities that terrified the edge of the Marchers.
2023 Warcaster Organised Play League
It has been announced that Jon from WarBudgies – author of the amazing Jericho Reach campaign (and collaborator on Arcane Synthesis) will be developing the 2 new factions as well as a new Organised Play League for Warcaster. He will also be developing an ongoing narrative campaign for War Machine. The below Primecast from the 11minute mark has Matt Wilson confirming Jon’s involvement, as well as a lot of the release information that follows.
Alien beasts and narrative campaign
As part of a new campaign product, Privateer Press is working on alien beasts that you can drop on your opponent. Not much else has been revealed yet, although I love the idea of a neutral narrative beast. Hopefully this is the first of a few, and I can kitbash something even weirder to customise the thousand worlds.
Source: Last minute of this video
Rumours and speculation
These are my opinions of comments seen elsewhere: based on War Machine, speculation, and my wishlists. Take it with a grain of salt: although I am more confident of some things here than others.
3D printing
Those following War Machine mk4 would know they have shifted production to 3D resin printing. Mk4 warjacks come with all weapons and a set of magnets, with the recesses pre drilled to fit. Having assembled one of these sets, they are a breeze to pull together. The new arms are chunky looking but light, and hold strongly to the magnets.
The mk4 warjacks are a great take on Warcaster’s concept of magnetised weapons. While nothing official has been announced for warcaster, I expect that Lost Legion, and Faction 6 will be entirely 3d printed. Future warjacks will come predrilled for magnets, and may be sold alongside magnets.
For existing factions, I hope we will eventually see all warjacks rereleased in printed resin with magnet holes pre drilled similar to Mk4. I don’t expect much more change, although it is possible to shift all models to resin printed if PP wants to retool the whole line. Some have speculated of a relaunch of the starter boxes in printed resin: this is possible but will have to see.
Other dev work
Comments on social media imply Devs are compiling an errata of some sort. Unclear what could be included: whether rules cleanups / clarifications, or something looking at model rules. Personally: Warcaster’s core rules are some of the best in the business: simple and allowing deep tactical decisions. However it is also a ‘first edition’ and minor rules clarifications are appreciated to keep it tight. I would also like to see some older squads (Vassals, Paladins, Rangers and Sabers) adjusted to match the power and fun of the cadre squads. It seems like the design team really hit their stride in the 3rd Kickstarter, and would be good to adjust the older releases with the same vibe.
There was also an older comment about streamlining skirmish games more. This one is so dated that I have doubts it is still happening, and what is/was considered as part of it.
Next distribution method
So far Warcaster has been released in 3 waves, all Kickstarters. Since then some other PP products have had Kickstarters pulled, or speculation that War Machine Mk4 would go through Kickstarter then didn’t. Instead, War Machine Mk4 releases are based around 2 ‘big boxes’ per faction with most of an army between them, sold through PP online store or normal distributors.
My wild speculation: the next Warcaster releases (especially the new factions) will be released without a kickstarter, and instead available with most of the wave in a single box or 2. We saw similar boxes with the Cadre releases in the 3rd wave – with most of that wave in a single box. This lets PP keep the number of products down, maintains the wave format of kickstarters, but lets them self-manage the distribution more. It also lets them stagger releases, so Lost Legion 1 month, “Faction 6” a few months later, campaign book a few months later, without needing to put it all in one go. This keeps some steady momentum rather than busting their production team for 1 massive release then saying nothing for 6 months.
Conclusion
So a lot happening in the world of Warcaster: with 2 factions, new scenarios, leagues, and some sort of horrible gribbly monster all in the works.
I’m excited to see what Lost Legion Warjacks will look like. My guess is that they will have a resemblance to the Legionnaires we have seen so far, but be bigger and more hunched/hulking.
I really wonder what mechanic they will do to keep Furies relevant without weavers! I could see a more-different type of Weaver, like a special Void Gate that got to have Furies cast form it. The idea of doing a new mechanic entirely with Furies for the Lost Legion seems really hard to get my head around — I am very excited to see what they reveal for it
I really hope they look at the base rules. Unfortunately the fist edition is bulky and slow for such a dynamic game. I would love to see the 9 steps for each turn (for the activation of only two units) to be streamlined so that the flow is simpler and a lot faster.
I’d also like to see retuning because some of the models/factions feel a fair bit unbalanced.
I am excited to see the lost legion release and if PP well do the 3d printing for jack’s. I hope so.